Best Of BW: Year 9 (AKA BW Is 10 Years Old)

November 16th, 2008. While recovering from medical problems earlier in the year I had read a bunch of blogs, like the original Comic Coverage, Siskoid’s Blog Of Geekery, Slay Monstrobot Of The Deep, and Comics Should Be Fun, It was all I could do really. I also started replying to articles on the blog, but the longer my paragraphs became the more I realized that if I had this much to say–not just about comics but other media–I should just go ahead and make my own blog. And so on that November 16th BW Media Spotlight released its first commentary, pointing out good things about a show I really don’t like, HBO’s Spawn cartoon. I may not like the violence, the gore, or the subject matter but it’s well animated, well-written (the two episodes I watched anyway), and Keith David is great in virtually everything he’s been in. The point was that you can hate something well-made and you can like something poorly made. It isn’t crap simply because you don’t like it.

This was a year of losses. YouTube demonetized my channel because now you must have 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 views to be considered cool enough to make money. This was also a year that saw an end to the other reason I started the site, taking part in the now defunct Friday Night Fights. You’ll have to hunt for those and the multi-article posting of my favorite entries.

If you’ve been watching the Art Soundoff videos this week you know where BW came from, why I make comics, and where the videos came in, although I didn’t get to do a lot of videos this year. You also know that this is my 10th anniversary producing this site. It’s amazing the things I’ve learned about just from doing this site, either on purpose or by accident, by looking for potential discussion topics or just to satisfy a bit of curiosity and make sure I have some idea what I’m rambling about. But before we can begin the 10th year it’s time for the usual looking back at the previous year to see if anything I wrote is something I’d recommend to others. So here are my favorite articles I made during year nine:

Cartoon Network’s Action Drought: It’s easier to watch Transformers: Cyberverse on YouTube (legally thankfully) than it is on Cartoon Network. They seem to be afraid of any show that doesn’t follow the Teen Titans Go formula, and that means no more action shows.

Another Awesome Superman Defense: There are people who hate Superman so much I have been visited on more than one occasion by a spambot who does nothing besides says “Superman sucks”. I am always happy to see someone provide a strong defense of Superman since he’s my favorite superhero.

Writing For Fans Versus Yourself: I mentioned this during Art Soundoff this year. How much do you listen to the fans versus having the freedom to tell your own stories? I weighed in on the debate going on at the time.

In Defense Of The Goliath Chronicles: For whatever weaknesses the show had I don’t consider it the affront to the Gargoyles franchise the way diehard fans do. I even debated further in the comments. My goal wasn’t to convince anyone (although I’m always happy to) but to offer a different perspective, one I happen to agree with since I wrote it. 🙂

BW Panelling: Star Trek DS9 Q&A: One of the few videos I got out this year was an overdue panel from ConnectiCon 2016, featuring Nana Visitor and Michael Dorn of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

Sing Me A Story: Fernando: This goes back to what I was saying in the intro, about learning something interesting that I might not have even looked into because I make this site. ABBA’s “Fernando” has some interesting history behind it.

My Problem With Thundercats Roar andThundercats Roar Versus Modern Mythology: I don’t have a problem with a silly parody but Thundercats Roar is just fundamentally flawed at concept. The second article continues the theme using a commentary by Professor Geek as a counterpoint to all the arguments made by defenders of Roar and the new She-Ra cartoon. (I do not hear good things about that one.)

BW Versus Variety: Darker Stories Need Balance: I have nothing against darker stories, but how about some light ones for a change? Even science fiction has given up on utopias. Except for The Orville and we could really use a season two soon.

Dissecting The “Toxic Fanbase” Narrative: Just because the Star Wars fandom has horrible people doesn’t mean every negative comment is toxic. You can’t write them all off based on the actions of a few.

The Coast City Mistake: Why the destruction of Coast City, and how it was handled, showed that DC’s failures aren’t all new. DiDio just makes it worse is all.

How CBS’s Star Trek Mistake May Hurt Paramount: CBS took Star Trek from Paramount after some weird merger, demerger, and rights issues followed. And now their treatment of the series may be causing Paramount further harm than they’re doing to themselves.

DC’s Continued Body Count: DiDio declares war on former sidekicks and “legacy heroes” as he works to restore the New 52 format. You had to know Rebirth wasn’t going to last with the same people in charge.

BW Vs. Titans Team On Fan Complaints: Going back to that toxic fanbase thing from earlier, I try to give the actors behind the live-action Titans series the benefit of the doubt and explain why fans are so negative towards the show.

Full She-Ra Trailer Drops: Apparently the new show falls into not-stalgia and possibly not even very good. I kind of knew the former would be the case when the full trailer finally came out and it not only confirmed some of the issues I had but countered many of my pre-show defenses.

The Plot Hole Debate: In this installment of “Trope Shark” I look at a debate about whether or not plot holes are something to complain about and give my own thoughts on the issue.

Those are the articles I would put on a resume for my work in reviews and commentaries. And now we move into the 10th year of BW Media Spotlight. What will we discuss, how far will we go, and what comes next? I have no idea. I plan to find out and hopefully you’ll join me on that voyage.

Wow! I almost totally forgot about Thundercats, Roar! until I just read your list of topics covered this year. If I remember right, Thundercats, Roar! is starting in early 2019. I plan to watch one or two episodes, but I doubt I will become a loyal fan of it. In fact, I’ll likely become very disgusted after watching it, but I’m trying to keep an open mind.

For your new year of BW, how about a video of you interviewing random people on the street about their views on media trends, movies, television shows, or comics? What about you doing a lip sync video that ties in with a certain movie, television show, cartoon, or comic? Or how about a video of you interviewing a comic shop owner in their shop?